An email marketing campaign is easy and straightforward to start and gives excellent results. But before you jump into a fully-fledged marketing project, you should have a firm understanding of the basics that make a compliant email list. In this post, we’ll cover the essential email marketing laws you should know to build a compliant email list with a high response rate.
The Importance of Email Marketing Law Compliance
The first and most important thing you should do is ensure that you have permission to email people on your list in the first place. Email marketing laws differ from country to country. But in most places, these laws require marketers to get subscribers’ consent before they start sending them campaigns. There are generally two types of permission or consent you can get:
- Implied Permission — An implied permission is one that exists between two sides in an ongoing business relationship. Implied consent might occur if someone is an active member of your website or community or your regular customer. An example of implied permission would be if a website visitor fills out an online form on your site for a quote. If the form includes an email address field and the prospect enters their email, then it’s implied that they’ve consented to have you email them.
- Express Permission — In cases when you don’t have implied permission, you need express permission. This type of compliance is granted when someone specifically permits you to use their email address in marketing campaigns. Most often, expressed permission comes in the form of newsletter subscriptions and website subscription forms. An example of express consent would be if something enters their email address into a web form that allows them to download your eBook.
Are unsolicited emails against the law?
Sending unsolicited emails can not only get you banned on Mailchimp and similar services but can have legal consequences as well. In case you’re looking to start an email campaign and aren’t sure if you’re tactics comply with regulations, it’s always better to check the current directives. For the US, this would be the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 , which covers all of the necessary legislation you should check before sending out emails.
Email Marketing Tactics You Should Avoid at all Costs
If you’re starting a new email marketing campaign, you likely need a lot of new leads, and you need them fast. When it comes to marketing, everyone wants it done yesterday. But with this urgent frame of mind, marketers can get themselves into trouble. Here are some of the most common blackhat email marketing tactics you should avoid at all costs.
Buying Email Lists
We strongly advise you to avoid purchasing an email list. While buying email lists might seem like an excellent way to quickly build a list of leads from your target demographic, it isn’t a sustainable way of developing your business long-term. This is not only an ineffective way of creating a mailing list, but it’s also illegal in most cases.
For starters, any serious company that legally acquired an email list won’t want to sell it to another business. If a company wants to sell an email list to you, the chances are that the addresses don’t have that much value or have been deemed unsuitable for marketing.
Plus, even if you manage to get your hands on a bought email list, the response rates will be insignificant since these users have already been targeted so many times with unwanted emails. Avoiding this blackhat list building tactic is also prudent if you’re planning a mass text marketing campaign. Many of the rules that apply to email marketing also apply to mass text marketing.
Scraping Emails off Websites
Another blackhat tactic, also called email harvesting, that you want to avoid is scraping random emails off websites. The problems listed above with bought lists are pretty much the same for emails scraped from random sites. Mailchimp and other email marketing platforms will ban your account if you try this poor list-building strategy. It’s also illegal, according to the CAN-Spam Act of 2003.
Creating Deceptive Headers and Subject Lines
When sending emails, try to keep the headers as accurate as possible. Hiding the sender’s name or crafting the email to look like it’s coming from someone else are examples of deceptive and illegal subject lines. These data snippets are required for every email. So, there’s no reason to go out of your way to fake the information. Using FWD or RE in the subject line is also a form of email marketing deception. There are better (and legal) tactics to use to get your email opened.
Also, creating dishonest subject lines will quickly drive away potential customers who expected something when they opened your message. This should be enough motivation to stop doing employing this tactic. Also, the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 explicitly states that commercial emails must not mislead users in any way.
Presenting Your Email as Something Other Than Advertised
CAN-SPAM precisely stipulates that you should always disclose that your message is an advertisement. The law does give you quite a bit of wiggle room for creative subject lines. But only if you don’t purposely deceive your recipients with wrongly identified emails.
The most important thing is to make it clear that your email isn’t personal, but is instead a promotional message. Take note from successful companies like Sephora, Sony, and Booking.com. These companies stay within the guidelines, but create catchy titles that make people engage with their promotions.
Benefits of Building a Compliant Mailing List
When it comes to email marketing, slow and steady wins the race, so it’s crucial to pay attention to every step of the process. Email marketing short cuts might seem enticing. But they’re not sustainable. There are many benefits of building a compliant mailing list, and here are the three biggest ones:
- Better Reputation — By having a compliant mailing list, you’re making a solid long-term reputation, both as a business and as a trusted email sender. Sender reputations are critical in email marketing. Without a good sender reputation, your email can be automatically marked as spam, and the recipient will never see it.
- Increased Sales and Conversion — When you’re sending a promotion to someone who might actually need it, the chances of landing a sale grow exponentially.
- Loyal Customers — In similar fashion to the previous benefit, if you continue to provide your customers with something that interests them, you’ll earn their loyalty. They’ll be far more likely to keep opening and clicking future email promotions.
Email Marketing Compliance Laws Wrap Up
These guidelines for email marketing may be strict. But they’re too difficult to follow if you’re really intent on doing email marketing the right and sustainable way. Never hide your information behind misleading headers, subject lines, and fake proposals. Let your potential customers know who you are right from the get-go.
But most importantly, be sure that you have permission to email every person on the list. It’s a good idea to store the subscribers’ consent, as well as when and how they gave it to you. In the end, offer them an opt-out option, in case they change their mind about wanting to receive your emails.
All things considered, there are many aspects you should pay attention to when building an email marketing list. Contact us to find out more about how we can help you develop a successful email campaign for a compliant mailing list.